Attack Of The Clones

Another gift I found it hard to get rid of.

My dad tries hard, he really does. He saw "Attack Of The Clones" on my Amazon wish list and went out and bought the DVD for me. Isn't that great?

But I was the music I wanted. On CD. This I would have waited for until a triple trilogy boxed set came out.

And I would have bought that boxed set too, if the final film hadn't been so poor.

Actually, this is the better of the latter three... give it back!

Jerky Boys by Jerky Boys

An NME cassette from the late 80s featured an amusing prank phone call from this album titled "The Egyptian Magician", featuring a character named Tarbash describing his act to a potential agent on the phone ("Then I take fork and stab customer in eye. But in my country, that is considered art.").

I bought the album, listened to it, laughed and put it on my shelf.

Now, nearly 20 years later, I'm taking it off my shelf.

Shazam!

It's gone.

Ni Un Passo Atras, Folkways: A Vision Shared, Common Ground: Voices of Modern Irish Music, Greenpeace Rainbow Warriors - all by Various

My collection of U2 appearances on compilations is impressive, but not exhaustive.

Common Ground was released the weekend I went to Dublin with a couple of friends on a U2 pilgrimage, visiting lots of sites associated with the band, missing them at their studio at Hanover Quay as they worked on Pop (Bono's Bristol was parked outside). I first heard the version of Tomorrow on this album in an HMV store in the centre of Dublin on a Sunday morning (after a night at The Kitchen). I never bought it at the time.

Jesus Christ from Folkways: A Vision Shared was recorded in the Sun Studios session featured in Rattle And Hum, although the track doesn't appear in the film. One of the great compilation songs, I never owned a CD copy before.

Greenpeace: Rainbow Warriors is an archetypal 80s compilation - almost everyone you can think of is on it. It opens with a different edit of the live version of Pride (In The Name Of Love) which appears on Rattle And Hum.

Ni Un Paso Atras! is a compilation I wasn't aware of which features some solo Bono tracks. I wouldn't usually bother.

More for the pile. Forgive me.

The Dead Zone

A memorable David Cronenberg film from a story by Stephen King, with a great central performance by Christopher Walken.

If I had the gift of second sight, would I still have bought this?

Maybe. I see no reason to hang on to it though.

I may watch it every ten years. But it'll probably be using different technology each time.

Begone!

Human Patterns by Beanfield

I remember Robert Elms regularly playing the title track in the introduction to his show (along with Cold Water Music by Aim) while I was driving 'round the M25 to Bracknell but I never got around to picking this up. Now I have.

It still sounds great. I hope I'll play it a fair bit.

Plastic Box by Public Image Ltd.

An impressively hefty three-disc set of rarities and radio sessions from Public Image Ltd. which has some great liner notes from John Lydon.

Thirty quid seems a lot to have paid for a secondhand copy, especially since I don't listen to it often.

Enough. Go.

Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet by Gavin Bryars

A colleague at Chelsea Physic Garden belonged to an experimental music CD club, got this as a monthly selection and hated it.

I still haven't made up my mind, but I don't love it and I can't wait for it to collect more dust while I decide.

Out!